Like A Mushroom
by binkeybella
Summary: A short follow-up to Gibbs' excuse fest and how Tony might interpret it. Mainly because when I went back and re-read Perspective, it sounded like a load of horse poop to me.


_**Thanks for the reviews on the first part of this story. And to the guest reviewer who mentioned it's a waste of time to try to figure out the show as it is in canon, LOL, yeah, it totally is, but the muse wants what it wants, I guess, and sometimes it strays! **_

Tony had sat patiently listening to Gibbs' explanation as to why he had done what he done – gone off and not told Tony what he was up to or where he was going. Been unreachable, unreadable, unbelievable. It all made perfect sense, in a warped sort of way, why Gibbs left him out of the loop in some crucial situations.

To Gibbs, that was. But as intuitive and empathetic as the younger man was, Tony wasn't coming to the same conclusion. Lord knows he loved the man, mainly because if he didn't, he would have bludgeoned him to death years ago.

But sometimes that wasn't enough to totally overlook the bullshit that Gibbs tried to lay on him.

What the hell did Mike Franks, or the Marines, have to do with how the Boss treated him now?  
Couldn't he just do the right thing and show him some respect, show that he thought Tony had half a brain rattling around his skull?

It was easy to say that if Gibbs wanted to go off on a crazy-ass tear and get himself killed, then so be it, who was going to try to stop him? Not so easy living with the aftermath of thinking he could have, _should have,_ done something to prevent it. But Gibbs never really thought about that. Man of action that he was, he thought about what he wanted to do, now, no second guessing, even if it meant causing painful repercussions for years to come for those in his circle of friends and family.

Tony nodded his head and 'hmm'd', as if he were digesting every word Gibbs was feeding him and letting it give him moral fiber and strength. The reality of it was, Tony's mind was only half listening, the other half reliving moments of when Gibbs had tossed him under the bus in his one-man crusade to save the world, disrespecting his team and grinding all of his well-preached rules to dust until he needed to use them again to teach the gospel of Gibbs.

The excuse Gibbs was giving him was valid, well-thought out, and perhaps even held a kernel of truth.

But it was still an excuse. What his boss had done, and would probably continue to do, was simply justify actions that defied continual forgiveness. If Gibbs wanted Tony to believe that keeping vital information from him was for Tony's own good, well, he couldn't stop him, wouldn't even try. Everyone had their blind spots, it just seemed that his boss had several more than most. He also had his share of unshakable good qualities, the ones that Tony counted at times like these when he wanted to throttle the man.

Gibbs wound up his spiel, which had really only been a very few minutes but seemed like an eternity for Tony to have to sit through. He turned his attention back fully to his boss, and gave him a warm smile.

"I'm really glad you're okay, Boss. If you don't need anything else, I'm gonna head out, I have some plans for tonight."

""Yeah, sure, DiNozzo. So, are we good?"

_Why are you asking me that, Boss? What would you do if I said we weren't? Do some real soul-searching and try to figure out how to fix things?_

"Yup, we're good, Boss. Thanks for sharing that with me, I'll give it some thought. Gotta go, life isn't easy being a mushroom."

Gibbs nodded and watched his SFA hurry out of the bullpen, but had no clue as to what the younger man was talking about. And he got the distinct feeling DiNozzo was still put out with him. Well, it was what it was, he had spoken his piece, it was all he was willing to offer up on the alter of a boss having to explain himself to his subordinate. Later on in Ducky's tiny autopsy office, he asked the M.E what he thought Tony was talking to him about with his vegetable reference. The older man started, and then gave a sad smirk.

"Well, Jethro, I do believe that there is an old adage regarding a human being feeling like a mushroom, and I can well imagine Anthony feeling like one at times like these."

"Yeah, so, what the hell is it?"

"Something along the lines of being kept in the dark and fed a load of, well the more polite term would be ''crap' , I believe."

Gibbs swallowed the hot tea and stared at his reflection in Ducky's microwave door.


End file.
